After equivocating over court-packing, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was quick to distance himself from speculation he supported Supreme Court term limits.
“It’s a lifetime appointment. I’m not going to attempt to change that at all,” Biden told reporters Monday in Chester, Pennsylvania.
If elected to the White House next week, the two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator has promised to set up a commission to study possible Supreme Court reforms. The group will have 180 days to provide him with recommendations.
“There’s some literature among constitutional scholars about the possibility of going from one court to another court, not just always staying the whole time on the Supreme Court. But I have made no judgment, my word,” he said after a quick visit to a voter center in the critical battleground state.
To the delight of President Trump’s campaign and Republican operatives, Biden frustrated liberal activists and down-ballot Democratic candidates last month when he refused to address a push to expand the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace her. Biden finally said he wasn’t “a fan” of court-packing, before last week proposing the commission.
With a stable average national polling lead over Trump eight days before the Nov. 3 election, Biden also countered criticism Monday he was being complacent with his light campaign schedule.
“I’m going to be going to Iowa, I’m going to Wisconsin, I’m going to Georgia, I’m going to Florida, and maybe other places as well,” Biden said.
The Senate is expected to confirm Barrett to the Supreme Court Monday night.
